Woman&#39;s petticoat



NOV. 13, 1951 COOLEY 2,574,861

WOMEN S PETTICOAT Filed Nov. 25, 1946 INVENTOR LENORE B. COOLEY Patented Nov. 13, 1951 WOMANS PETTICOA'L Lenore B:v Cooley; New York; N.";Y.; FirstNatlona1,

Bank ofi-Y Santa; Eeaexecutorwofza saidr;Iienore;- -Bi Cooley, .deceased.-.

ApplicatiomN'ovemlier 23, 1946; S'erialNo; 711,8581

3aclaims. 1%:

This invention relates? women's? undergarmentssand particularly to';' petticoats.;

One T- object" ofthe invention; is:- a novel: and improved petticoat which isig'characterizedrbyr-its functioningiasiaapanty as:we1l;:as :a petticoatnby its: Ldesigns" features :simulatingr: axpetticoat: eifect notwithstanding athewpanty functioning, by, giving markedrfreedonrzof: body}; and legjmcvementyby itsa fornrlfit .and 'by'stheeconomy: with: which the garment amayc be *manufacturedrin quantity; prodiictionx.

Eurther: objects? of: thetinventionv will .1 hereinafter: appear;

For: a; betterrunderstandingtg of. i the; invention reierence'mayvbehadtottheiaccompanying draw;- ingsszformingrazpartofrthisaapplication, wherein Fig; .1 isza. perspective-viewmfraapetticoat :em:- bodying the: invention;

Fig; 211s. a=sectional view-along the line 2.--2 :of Fig.. 1.;1"

Figs. 314s; assectional: "view' along the' line" 3'+-3 ofifFig: 15;:

Fig; 41stazviewcoira-pattem ofoneof tlfepanels of? the garment Fig; 511is a view of another i'of ithesxpatternszior panels otf which: thegarmentismade; and

Fig;- .6.. is an exploded iview of: thepatterns 1 or panels/utilized in the-making of "the-garment:-

Referring to the drawings, the garment" is indicated at [in Fig; 1: The waistline"ot the petticoat is indicated at zand"anysuitabletrimm-ing '3 'may beprovided' ifd'esired"at 'thebottom edge of the petticoati' The garment 'is made of six" vertical panels,

two side panels a adjoining-front panels b b and adjoining back panels c-andc." Thepanels a are identicafand*the'panels'b, b, c; c are identical, one of the panels =a=being shown in Fig: 4 and oneot" the front and back panels being shown in Fig... 5. Thepanelsib; b1, ,0, form the waistline 2 ofthegarment: each of these panels being? providedi at -zitsaz-uppert end'iwitlr awircumferentially and laterally taperinga'part fi. The parts 4 of .thmpanelsaband c f'arereattached together on the side of the garment and similarly the-parts 4.0f panels Wand" a are attached" or sewn togethenontheopposite" side to: formithe side lia'lvesyof'the'waistline; In. the particular embodiment shown the tapering parts 41 are formedof triangular shapehaving outer. straight lined edges 5' meeting at an acuteangle. with. the. upper-edges" l'pfthe panels. Thus the straight edges 5 form a part of the side edges of the panels corresponding to the sides upon which the parts 4 are located and the side edges 5 merge into or meet the outer' side-edges li'ofthe innerpanels and these outer side edges 6 in the particular embodiment-showrr arer straight edges. Each of the panels b; b, c, c" gradually widens beginning: at the lower portionsof thetriangular parts 4 to form an intermediate gradually widening part?! and a-lower part-'8 whose width approximates the width of the upper end-edge 4' of'the panel. The di vidinglines ofthese panel portion-s4; l; 8 are'indicated by dotted 'lines 'l and 8'. The inner edge of each of 'thesepanels formed of the portions 4', 1' and fl'isrformed of a continuous line 9 extending downwardly about :two --thirds of the:=distance orthrough-the depthof the parts fl and" T- and' of lower line or edge 7 I 0; These lines ll and? l fl which together form the inner'edge of 'one of'the inner panels are curved'to form concave edges; The inner *edgesrll of the. panels li -and 122'. are sewn together: to form the seam 9 ofithe garment andlikewise the curved edges Q 'off the panels c andb are sewn together to form a seamsi'inihrto the seam 9' on the back ofthe garment; a suitable zipper fastener 20 or the like being-a continuation of the rear seam 9'. In the particularembodiment shown the width of portiontiof the panel is' a little more than twice the width along the line-l and isslightly less than the'width at thetop edge, as indicated by the proportions 9y; 43- and log.

The -lower*-'parts--8 of'the panels b and c are sewn together along the lines in to form the seam l0' and likewise the curved edges ill of the panels b"-' and c" are sewn 'together to form a similar seam 10. The panels a are observed'to have tapered upperparts' ll shaped to fit into the angles formedb'etweenthe upperparts' A of the front'andback panels vb-ancl cand the .front and backpanels b and-c respectively. For this purpose the upper: parts H of the panels a are taperedin an upward direction to have-straight edges II which. fiton to and are sewn tothe straight edges'i'of the front andxback panels to form theinclined straight seams l2.., The panels a' are gradually. increased in ..width toward the lower: end; and. in the particular embodiment shown. the panel. a is substantially one-half greater atthe bottom than at the top. as indicated by the lines lily and I2 /211. The side edges I3 of each panel ahare sewn to the outer edges 6 ofthe.:inner'panels tov form the seams Hiboth frontandrear. The edges 5fofthe portionsAof the" centralfipanels are alittle longer, than the The points where the seams l2 and M meet are indicated at l5 and these four points l5, two on the rear and two on the front define a plane which passes at or closely in the vicinity of the hip bone of the wearer and the panels are formed to fit this purpose. Also the relative proportions of the widths of the panels in this plane defined by the points I5 are roughly three for the panels a and one each of the panels I), b, c and c as indicated in the sectional view indicated in Fig. 2. Also the inner panels b, b, c and c are formed of fabrics which are cut with the weave .while the side panels a are out on the bias. The relative proportions of the widths of the panels at the bottom may vary within limits with respect to each other but I have found particularly good results with the widths of the panels a at the bot tom equal to roughly twice the width of each of the inner panels at the bottom.

It is to be observed that in this garment the upper parts of the inner panels I), b, c and e form entirely the waistline, the central upper sections ll of the panels a joining the tips of the tapered parts 4 of the panels. The upper parts of the inner panels constitute a gradually decreasing proportion downwardly of the body of the garment between the waistline 2 and the plane through the points IS.

The garment of this invention by reason of the design and structure above described has a number of advantages. These include among others the particular structure and design of the front and back panels b, b, c and 0 together with their correlation with the bias cut side panels a which prevents undesirable drooping or sagging of the crotch and the bias out side panels give the desired fullness of the petticoat at the bottom without extra gathers at the top to thicken the body and the crotch of the garment is concealed by the lower parts of the inner panels tending to fold over each other due to the particular design and structure of the inner panels and due in part also to the side panels a which hang in a manner to make the seams l4 substantially vertical, thereby accentuating the folding over of the lower parts of the inner panels, to conceal the dividing line between the side halves of the petticoat at the bottom. The lower portions 8 of the central panels have a depth suificient, together with the concave edges 9 and i0 and the fullness of the lower part of the garment, to provide complete simulation of petticoat lines without division, and a depth which at the same time is small enough together with the fullness to provide at the bottom a divided petticoat, each division of which is sufiiciently full to permit free and easy use for sanitary purposes, without the necessity of removal from the waist and no unbuttoning or unfastening being required for these purposes. For example, the crotch line 8' of the garment is approximately halfway from the crotch line 25 of the wearer to the bottom of the petticoat, where the bottom edge is in the vicinity of the knee in the embodiment shown and I have found that for a medium size garment a circumference of roughly 32 to 34 inches for each divided part at the bottom is quite satisfactory.

I claim:

1. A petticoat embodying front, back and side panels, each of the front and back panels comprising two mating parts, each part having a width at the waistline of approximately onefourth the waistline of the garment and having a side edge to join its mating side panel composed of two straight edges disposed at an obtuse angle, the other side of each part having a concave curved side edge extending downwardly and having a shorter curved edge extendingdownwardly from said concave edge to the bottom, the shorter curved edges of the front panel parts at the bottom being fastened respectively to the similar parts of the back panel thereby providing inside leg seams, said side panels being tapered frombottom to top and the top tapering sharply to a point at the waistline to match the two straight edges at each side of the corresponding front'and back panels which are disposed at an obtuse angle.

2. A womans undergarment providing a combined panty and petticoat, said undergarment comprising six panels and having its front and back body and leg portions and its waist formed of two pairs of front and back panels and its side portions formed mainly of two side panels, the upper edges of the front and back panels forming the waist line, the front and back panels of each pair being formed in duplicate shape and each panel of both pairs having an upper portion tapering on one side to a point in the waistline with the points of the front pair adjacent to the points of the back pair to form the waistline, each panel of the front and back pair having concavely curved inner edges extending from the waistline downwardly to a crotch point, means to join said concavely curved inner edges together, each panel of the front and back pair having a short concave curved edge extending from the crotch point to the bottom, said last named edges being joined respectively to similar edges formed on the other pair thereby to provide an inside leg seam, the outer edges of the front and back panels being formed of straight edges, each'panel having two straight ang'ularly disposed edges, one providing said taper to a waistline point, and the other edge extending throughout the intermediate and bottom portions of the panels, a pair of side panels, each ofsaid side panels tapering from the bottom upwards of the panel and the undergarment, each of said side panels having more abruptly tapering upper portions to fit the two front panels and the rear panels, said two pairs of front and back panels gradually increasing in width in a downward direction to provide a form fit about the waist and just below the waist of a wearer and means for connecting the outer edges of the front and back panels with the adjacent edges of the side panels.

3. The undergarment of claim 2 in which said side panels are cut on the bias and the front and back panels are cut with the weave.

LENORE B. COOLEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 133,138 Bellamy Nov. 19, 1872 1,034,071 Browning July 30, 1912 1,995,609 Geisenheimer Mar. 26, 1935 2,284,723 Chessin June 2, 1942 2,320,408 Clark June 1, 1943 2,375,070 Bloom May 1, 1945 

